Luffy, Always Bounces Back
by Abigail Skywalker
Summary: Luffy is a child, How did this happen? And how will the adult pirate crew take on this new responsibility. How do they protect a boy who lives so unguardedly, but now he's weak, and can't protect himself.
1. Shrunken

**So, I had this idea way back when I saw Luffy using his Gear 3RD at Enies Lobby. Luffy can shrink? Interesting. And I was looking forward to writing something that was original and hadn't been done before. But then I saw One Piece Movie Z. **

**And I thought, OH!**

**:( **

**They stole my idea!**

**But then they did make the movie, and although it was over all to soon I like the idea of someone in the crew loosing their years or gaining them. So I went back to this, and Actually started writing it. Yay for Nami and Luffy.**

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Shrunken.

Chapter 1

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Somewhere on the Grand Line off the shore of some island, there was a pirate ship. It was basking in the its own glory as it rode the choppy waves that came crashing into it. It's Pirate's Jolly Roger flying in the sea breeze whipping back and forth proudly, while all other sails and fabrics had been tied down to protect them from the strong winds.

Now, it was morning, in this location and the crew of the pirate ship were awakening, feeling the need to be filled with a massive breakfast as per usual. It wouldn't come as much as a surprise to anyone reading that these pirates were not really morning people so they didn't really pay attention to one another when waking up. So, it's no little surprise that the guys didn't notice anything unusual when waking up, because their only thought was to get up on deck. No one noticed there was something incredibly quire about a certain boy.

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Luffy woke up. He was used to sleeping on the floor, so when he woke up in a sort of bed hammock thingy he grinned and swung it side to side enjoying the tickly feeling it gave his stomach. That was until he fell out of his hammock. His head flatterned on the floor, with a loud bang, and then sprung back into its natural shape and place above his neck. And this is when Luffy realized he didn't know where he was.

"GA! What the heck! Where am I?" Luffy looked down at his cloths and saw they were far to large for him. He tied himself up as best as he could with a rope he found in the corner to stop his blue pants from falling down, and then started to panic. "My hat!" his stomach rumbled loudly. "My tummy hurts. NEED FOOD." he looked up above him and saw his hat sitting proudly next to his hammock now if he could just reach it. It took him about three arm throws to get it right, and then he pulled it down onto his head.

He grinned, "Now time to eat!" He charged out the door of the room and outside onto a deck. "Ohhhhhh!" Shock hit him as he looked around. "So cool!" He shook with excitement the need of food temporarily forgotten as his sense of adventure took over.

He ran down the stairs onto the grassy lawn, and immediately started rolling on it. "Wow, grass on a ship!" He stretched his hand's palms outwards and then praised the skies. "Best Ship Ever!" The wind whipped away the sound of his voice as he lay on the grassy deck. He then noticed how much fun the mast looked, and decided to climb it.

"Up, and Up, and up. I Go!"

"Ace is fat and Sabo's Slow!" Luffy started singing to himself. He almost reached the top when he heard yelling down below.

"Oi! Luffy!" Luffy looked down, a person with blond hair who he had never seen before was calling for him.

"Huh? What a weirdo?" Luffy spoke to himself, and then loosing his firm grip to the mast he fell.

"Luffy you had better hurry up or..." The cook Sanji stopped as heard Luffy falling from his high place on the mast. And ran over to kick him for scaring him. But what he saw only held him steadfastly where he stood.

"What in blazers name...? Luffy!?" The blond-haired chef picked up an eight year old Luffy.

Luffy didn't know who this man was, but he was not going to be called Blazers. "Yeah! Who the Hell are you!?

Sanji snatched the miniature pirate and tucked him under his arm, and ran as quick as he could to the kitchen. "Guys, I think we have a big, or I mean a little problem on our hands." He held up the tiny Luffy and the rest of the crew gasped at what they saw. Their Captain, the one who leads them on this journey, was kicking and screaming for Sanji to let him go struggling to set himself free from the cooks grasp.

"Let go of me BAKA!" He tried to kick him as he wiggled. "Let go! Let Go!" and then in a breath of oxygen his brain registered the presence of food. He stopped kicking, and turned his head in the direction of the smell, and saw a table laden with food with some more funny looking people round it. His mouth began to water and he reached out for the heavenly delights. "KA... GIVE ME FOOD."

Sanji turned him around and looked into his small child's face, "Now, what do you say."

"Sorry I kicked you." Luffy's eyes still looking in the direction of his new love.

"And."

"I love food."

"AND!"

"I need food, give me some, Greedy gob!" At that Sanji kicked him on the back of his head and allowed him to crash into the floor at the other side of the room.

At this, when the small boy had sat up he began to cry. "Your so mean... huuuh!... I'm only hungry. … huuuh!" He started with a small whimper and then began to wail.

"Oh! Sanji! Look what you did! Can't you see his just a little kid!" The girl with long copper coloured hair approached the child on the floor, and picked him up.

"Who are you!" Luffy asked again, it suddenly dawned on him he didn't recognize any of the people here. "Where am I!? Where is Ace!? Where is Sabo!?"

The woman took him in her arms and stroked his back up and down. "Don't worry, it's okay you're safe. It's okay." she stroked his black hair, kissed his forehead, and picked up his hat and put it firmly on his head. She then stood back up and brought him to the table in her arms. "Why don't you sit with me, Luffy, we can have Breakfast together." She sat him down on her lap because he would hardly be able to reach the table by himself.

Luffy looked out hungrily at everything before him. 'all I need to do is stretch and get that.' Nami grabbed his hand before he was able to stretch it. "Now, Luffy what would you like?"

Luffy smiled up at her, he wasn't used to being asked that, "Everything!" he replied with a gleeful cheerfulness that only comes from ignorance.

"We'll give you some of it." she started pulling a few plates closer to him. "Now, I had better introduce you to everyone." She pointed to the chef first, "Over there is Sanji our chef, the man who found you and who cook you this delicious meal." Luffy didn't understand the threaten glare coming off Sanji he just gave him a smile for the food. Next she pointed to the swordsman, "and here is Zoro our swordsman, next is archaeologist Robin," she pointed to the dark haired woman, "and here is our musician Brook," and Luffy's eyes bulged as he saw this person didn't have any, "and here our Shipwrite Franky, and this is Usopp..."

"Do not worry my young little lad!" Usopp said in a loud performing voice. "For you are a brave member of the USOPP PIRATES!"

"Wow! Really!" Luffy exclaimed with delight. It was then that he noticed a Reindeer sitting at the table next the sniper guy. "That raccoon dog looks tasty!"

"I'M NOT A RACCOON DOG! I'M A REINDEER! BAKA!" Chopper yelled. "And you can't eat me!"

"It talks!" Luffy yelled with surprise, and leapt across the table to embrace it. "I never met a talking animal before." He grinned at the reindeer. "You have too Join my future Pirate Crew!" at his words everyone round the table dropped from their seats. Their Captain really hadn't changed at all.

"Luffy?" He gripped his hat firmly onto his head, and glanced at the girl who had been talking to him.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"My name is Nami." She said with a smile. "I'm the navigator for this pirate ship. Welcome!"

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**So what do you guys think? Interesting? Or no... **

**REVIEW, OR PM ME. Can't wait to hear from you.**


	2. Bath Time

**Thank you everyone who has reviewed. I don't think I have ever got that many reviews all at once before, it's really exciting. Thank you guys.**

_ichigi111kurosaki_

_sess18_

_Shannon Sumner_

_wushu723_

_scatteredPhilosopher _

_AfroRadish _

**By the way Shannon Sumner, I can't just reveal how Luffy became Little now can I? That is for the crew to work out. It's a mystery.**

**So to recap. **

**Luffy can't remember anyone on the crew. He is eight years old. He remembers Ace and Sabo. He has decided he wants to be the King of the Pirates already. He is getting used to his gum gum powers, but he is not good at it yet. **

**We saw how Nami loves children during the Punk Hazard Arc, when she tries to save them all from being marine experiments. She hits Luffy a lot a tells him off quite a bit, so what will she do now he's just a kid? Will the hitting continue or will she become super protective?**

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Bath time

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Chapter 2

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These were the sort of occasions when people come together and discuss things of a serious nature. And indeed it was true the Strawhat Pirates were very worried about their Captain, and wondering how in all of the Grand Line's weirdness, had their Captain become a child. They could do nothing that they knew of that might help him in any way. He remembered nothing of their adventures, and to put it plainly it was terrifying. The idea that he didn't really know them like he used to was strange, like that time when the entire crew apart from Robin lost their memories, except now it was just Luffy. For he had, in his own way, always been keeping the group together. He drove them forward with his enthusiasm, and although he still had that enthusiasm and in abundance. He did not have the strength or will power to back it up.

So they were gathered outside, sifting through the relevant and irrelevant events that had taken place the last couple of days. To find where it had exactly gone wrong, and what Luffy might have done to get this way. It didn't help when they had an oblivious child running this way and that trying to distract them from their discussions every few seconds.

"Al-right everyone! Gather round! Gather round!" The brave and fierce Captain Usopp called. He pulled on to the deck a massive black board that he had put together in the construction room below, and proceeded to write on it with a stick of squeaky white chalk.

"So, for now we can conclude that this was an accident. We have not been attacked, or approached by enemies, and no one has attempted to kidnap Luffy, and he hasn't gotten lost anywhere recently. So,... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" Usopp's calm persona vanished into the fresh breeze. "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! IF THERE ARE NO ENEMIES THEN HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET HIM BACK TO THE WAY HE WAS BEFORE? WE HAVE NO ONE TO ASK SO WHAT IS WRONG? AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was obvious he was having a hard time adjusting to the information, but there was someone on the crew that seemed to be hardly effected by the strange occurrences at all.

"We mustn't jump to conclusions." said the calm archaeologist, Nico Robin. "Just because we haven't seen an enemy doesn't mean one isn't out there."

"Robin! That doesn't help!" Usopp said worry and nervousness laced throughout his loud voice.

Robin answered, "I'm just pointing out the obvious. We need to remain alert. But I must say it is far more likely that Luffy has fallen in, or eaten something strange that has made his body change so drastically."

At her words everyone took another glance at their Captain, who just so happened to be playing with the only one who wasn't able to join their conversation, Tony Tony Chopper. He was riding the Reindeer's back as he ran around the ship and thoroughly enjoying himself, as his new friend Chopper tried to shake him off. The crew sighed. Knowing their Captain there could have been a number of different things he could have eaten from the Island they had been on yesterday. What were they going to do next?

"Oi!?" Luffy called out to the boring group. Curious he stopped his ride and charged towards them and came to a pause in front of Zoro, of whom he found very interesting and stood there staring at him.

Zoro sighed, "What do you want Luffy?" He gave his very best 'you will hate me, so go away' glare. To which or course the dear child Captain was not in the least effected.

"Come fight with me! I can beat you up!" Luffy pucked out his bottom lip, and pulled out his fist. "Don't cry if I hurt you! My punch is like two pistols!"

"Really?" Zoro smirked at Luffy's challenge. It was hard to take any sort of threat from his Captain seriously, especially in this state. "Okay, give it your best shot." He leant backwards and waited for his Captain to hit him.

Luffy seeing his opportunity, punched out his fists as hard as he could. To the shock of the whole crew his arm was shaky and wobbly like the freshly cooked noodles that Sanji liked to make. But they missed their target Zoro perfectly, and he hadn't had to move an inch. The unfortunate Usopp, however, who just so happened to have been standing behind him was sent spinning and twisting off towards the starboard side of the boat. Usopp thought fast, and instantly grabbed a hold of Luffy's arm to prevent being thrown overboard and he came to a stop.

Luffy was not so fortunate. Having his arm stretched but held in captivity by someone stronger and heavier than him simply meant the force of gravity had been reversed. So instead of pulling his arm back to him as he intended, he was pulled by the elasticity of his own arm, out of the circle of pirates and catapulted, screaming, out to sea.

The crew rushed to the edge of the ship watching in horror as their Captain did not try and reach back and pull himself in as usual, but instead just fell like a rock and hit the ceiling of the sea beginning his descent down into the wild depths.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Nami smacked both Zoro and Usopp over the head. "QUICK GO AND GET HIM BEFORE HE SINKS!"

Robin crossed her arms and many more appeared and reached out to grab a hold of Luffy. They got him, but with the way he was grabbing her and trying to pull himself up onto something that just was not there, sea water making her arms too weak to pull him in. "I can hold him up, but someone needs to get him." she said, her voice sounding strained.

Franky ran to operate the Coup de Brust! But Nami stopped him. For it might just cause the ship to land on him if they didn't get it right, and they didn't want Robin to lose her hold on him. Zoro and Usopp made for the Miny Merry, Brook jumped overboard and started running on water, which caused Nami to yell at him for being so stupid because he would probably sink too. And Sanji made it just in time to prevent Chopper from jumping overboard aswell.

It was Usopp that rescued Luffy from the sea in the end with his brilliant fishing wire that he fired and retracted from his utility belt, while Zoro dived into the water to save their drowning musician Brook.

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Once Luffy had been brought back on board, Nami grabbed him and wrapped him up firmly in a towel. She used as second towel and rubbed dry his wet black hair. He might be her idiot Captain, but she could tell when a child was scared and right now Luffy was a child, not her Captain. She sat down with Luffy in her lap and stroked his back over the towel. She could still feel his arms and legs shaking from the fear of drowning. Luffy tried to push away from her.

"Don't touch me! I'm not afraid of dying or drowning. I'm not afraid of sea monsters either." The entire crew could tell that Luffy was lying, tears were streaming down his face. It was as if in being in dinal he could somehow change his weakness into strength. Luffy tilted his head down trying to hide his tears and put his hands onto …

"My hat! My Shanks Hat! Where's it gone!" Luffy cried. The look of anger, and worry etched into his young face.

"It fell off you before you went flying." Nami said, pulling his hat out of nowhere and placing it on her Captain's head, "Don't worry Luffy, I've got your back." There must have been something in her words that broke a chord with him, because he just hugged her and burst into tears on her lap.

"You guys carry on the discussions." Nami spoke as she stood up, and moved Luffy up holding him tightly. "I'll take Luffy back inside and clean him up. And I'll see what I can do about making some of his clothes fit him better. We'll be back soon." She carried him into the bathroom and started to run a bath. Maybe if she could help him realize that water wasn't all that scary if you were careful around it, he would calm down a bit more. She turned the taps and the warm water came splashing out into the creamy white bath tub.

"Oi Nami?" Luffy asked, he seemed a bit calmer just being away from everyone else. He was always louder when people were watching. Such a performer.

"What is Luffy?" she smiled at him encouraging him to go on.

"Is this an inside fish pond?" She had to stop herself from bursting out in laughter.

"No, Luffy."

"Is it a mermaid bath?" So he had heard of mermaids had he?

"No, Luffy." She replied with a small giggle.

"Do you wash your clothes in here?"

"No, I don't normally, but you could if you wanted to." She smiled down at him. "This is where I wash myself." she took off her jean pants, and made sure her bikini was still very much in place. Luffy might be a child, but she wasn't going to be naked around him. Not that he would have cared. She looked down at him and saw his wide eyes take in the enormaty of the bath itself.

"THIS IS YOUR BATH BARREL! IT'S SO COOL!" He started running left to right trying to see every asspet of the 'bath', "It's so big! WOW!" He grinned up at her with his hands closed over his head protecting his treasure. "It's like a King's bath!"

"Perfect for the Pirate King, hey?" Nami said. Luffy grinned at her and gave her his good, famous, and old-fashioned giggle thing.

"Come on." Nami said standing up and stepping into the water. She added some bubbles to the mix, and sat down. "Get ready for your bath and get in." she patted the bubbles beside her and blew them across the bath.

Luffy excited about being in such a massive bath pulled off his very large and bulky teenages clothes and jumped in. Nami grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. Why did Luffy always have to be so hyperactive. The grin he gave her though when he came back up was all she needed to see to know just how amazing her Captain was.

Nami frowned, remembering the shock of seeing him flying out to sea, she looked at her Captain. She couldn't believe how much the crew had not really appreciated all the work and strength of Luffy. Seeing him unable to do even the very simplest of his devil fruit moves made her feel bad. He was definitely a very different person. She had always assumed that using a devil fruit power would have been easy, but it obviously wasn't. To Nami it was easy enough to deal with normal Luffy. She just kicked him or punched him and he would take it smiling. It was her way of venting out frustration, and his way of showing he cared enough about her and her worries to let her do that without complaining. But she wasn't used to seeing him so vulnerable and able to get hurt so easily and so upset over the small things.

He was excessively loud, noisy, and playful in the bath, and she had to prevent him from sliding under a number of times. "Luffy, be careful." she said after the third time.

"Heshishishishishi!" Luffy giggled, and moved away from her to do something else.

"No, it's time to wash." She grabbed him and sat him down in front of her. She poured some of her shampoo into her hands and rubbed it into his hair. He had very thick black hair, but she could never remember him actually cleaning it. He was such a mysterious boy. She had never asked him about his parents or family or where he grew up. In fact she had never really asked him about his childhood at all. "So Luffy, where were you before you woke up here."

"I was sleeping at Ace, Sabo's and my secret base." He reached his hands up over his head. "It's in the biggest tree ever and I want to have my own spy glass so that Ace doesn't take it." She frowned she still wasn't quite sure how Luffy's mind worked, but there was something interesting about this story.

"So, who is Sabo? Luffy."

"He's my big brother, along with Ace. We are going to have our own pirate crew one day." he paused as if thinking about something important. "Maybe not, we couldn't decide on who would be Captain, so our pirate flag ended up all messed up." he looked back at Nami. "I said I'd become the King of the Pirates, and they would have to make me their Captain, but they said I was too little." he pouted again.

"Well, that was good advice." Nami spoke up. "You need to grow up first and become a strong young man before you can become a Pirate King, you know." She moved the shower head down from it's place on the wall, "Close your eyes Luffy." and proceeded to wash out all the thick soapiness that was in his hair. She remembered what she had been like at this age compared to Luffy she had been really naughty. He was actually quite a good kid. She would have tried to hit her mum while washing her hair, she had hated it when she was younger, and then insisted that she could do it herself.

Once she had given him a good conditioning as well, she ran out the bath and got dried, and then dried the small child as well. She had been quite sure that she was a lot bigger when she had been this age, but then Luffy had always been a little bit small. Maybe it's because he's so elastic. She got dressed again wrapped Luffy up in his towel.

"Alright!" she said, "You ready for some new clothes?"

"Yeah!"

She took him to her room. Any of her clothes would fit him better than his own. She pulled out some of her t-shirts. "How about this Luffy?" It was one of her old vests that had been left on board the Thousand Sunny in the two years they had been apart from one another, but had somehow not gotten to damp, which was good, it held a lot of memories.

"G.O.L.D." he frowned, "Why does it say it's gold when it really isn't?"

"It says gold, because that is what I like. And I'm a pirate who likes gold, so why not wear it." She pulled it down over his head, and although it had been super tight on her it fit him fine. She was glad it had been so elasticated because it fit him nicely.

"There now doesn't that look good." She said. Now all she had to do was find him something decent to wear for his bottom half. She pulled out an old skirt she hadn't worn in ages. She could cut it up and sew the seams together. Yep, that would work.

For the next one and a half hours she was sewing up her old skirt, while giving Luffy some of Sanji's snacks that she had thought she could finish later, but never quite did.

"Okay! Done!" She said, and held them out to him. "He pulled them on and tied them up." They fitted just as well.

"Thank you Nami!" he clapped his hands and jumped up and down in his new clothes. "I got gold! I got new stuff." He grabbed his hat, bolted out the door, and ran down to the deck. Nami felt exhausted, but happy. She seemed to be always fixing Luffy's stuff.

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Sanji looked at his Captain in horror, "Why are you wearing Nami's clothes, Baka!?"

"Nami gave them to me. Because we both like gold!"

"Huh? What the hell? That doesn't make sense?"

"Yes, it does!"

"No, it doesn't."

"I don't care!" Luffy turned his back on the cook.

"Oi Luffy, you need to be careful from now on all right?" Zoro said.

"I don't care! You're not the boss of me!" Luffy ran away from him and started climbing up the mast again.

Nami came out of her room when she heard the noise and saw what was going on. Now, what did Bellemere use when she used to get mad.

"Luffy!" She called up to him bringing his attention back to her, "Forget those idiots! Why don't you come down for now? I've got some paper and colouring tools you can use. Do you want to draw some pictures?"

His eyes lit up at the idea of doing drawing. He loved drawing. He jumped down and ran to her. "Where? Where? Let me have some! I want to draw!" He was grinning as she fetched him some paper from her room, picked him up plopped him down into a deckchair. It was quite surreal seeing how calm it made him almost instantly.

"You will make a wonderful, stunning, beautiful mother some day, NAMI!" said the love-struck Sanji with hearts in his eyes. "You are just so..."

"Manipulative." added Zoro. Earning a kick in the face from Sanji for his honesty.

"What the hell did you say about my sweet Nami!" Sanji's face was burning with fury.

"I don't care about your delusions for our Navigator. You Stupid Love Cook. We need to focus on helping our idiot Captain." Zoro replied bluntly. Picking himself off the ground he walked to the abandoned chalk board, and picked up Usopp's leftover chalk. They hadn't gotten very far in their discussion since she had left. Typical.

Zoro continued, "What we need to do is go everywhere Luffy went yesterday, and basically retrace his footsteps and try and find anything unusual that might have caused this change." He tapped the chalk board wrote down in big bold letters, 'SEARCH THE ISLAND FOR THE CAUSE OF LUFFY'S AGE LOSS.' "This," He hit his words with the chalk tip, "is what we need to do today. He was on the Island all of yesterday it only makes sense."

"Yohohohoho! Yes, swordsman san." Brook said, filling the air with his catching laughter. "It makes a lot of sense, I can see what you mean. Although I have no eyes." (he pauses for effect). "Yohohohohoho!"

Luffy got up and ran over to them. "Nami! Nami! Here's a picture of you!" He held up his newest drawing and shoved it into her hands. "See!" He said pointing.

You could almost make out at it was a person, it didn't really have any curves. But the skin colour was very obvious, and so were the colours for her bikini, but what really made the picture look like Nami was the flaming orange hair that cascaded down her back and almost reached her feet.

Nami hugged Luffy. "It looks very good Luffy."

Luffy pointed it some orange and yellow dots on the white page, "Look, I even drew you some Gold."

"So you did, you are very clever Luffy." and she hugged him and kissed his forehead. He really was an adorable child.

She saw flames ignite out of the corner of her eye and turned around to see what it was.

"Alright! Listen up everyone!" Sanji yelled. "We really need to find what caused Luffy to shrink. Let's go!" He jumped off the ship and swam for the island.

"Do you really think he's doing it for Luffy?" Franky asked no one in paticular.

"Knowing his history." Robin replied, "I seriously doubt it."

"Yohohohoho! Everyone should know, that Luffy is this way because he doesn't drink enough milk. It makes your bones healthy. I should know because I'm all bones. Yohohohohoho."

"Shut up you moron!" Zoro and Nami yelled at him

"Hashishishishishshi." Luffy didn't understand the joke, but he knew he liked these people they were pretty cool. He ran to side of the ship where Sanji took off and leaned over the edge. "Everyone!" he yelled. "Let's go to the island!"

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**End of chapter 2. Super long, but quite fun. **


	3. Luffy's Log Book

**.**

**Guess who's back... **

**Back again... **

**Luffy's Back... **

**Tell your friends... **

**Guess who's back**

**Guess who's back**

**Guess who's back**

**And it goes on and on. By the way I'm not Oda in disguise. I don't own One Piece. So don't expect this to be coming up anytime soon in the Manga or anime. I am just the invisible voice that calls out of the world wide whiteness (that is fake computer pages).**

**I must thank my 'Concerned Guest'. I totally did not notice that error until you pointed it out. It made me laugh out loud, that I had made such a stupid mistake. It's a good thing this story isn't being printed, and that I can go back anytime and change mistakes. :D**

**.**

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Luffy's Log Book

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Chapter 3:

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**A little something about Luffy.**

Sometimes the ferocity of Luffy's orders would take all his crew by surprise, but then again when had he ever been unsurprising. Although they hated how regularly they were put into unnecessary danger, they also knew it was worth it to be on such a happy, wild, and crazy crew. Luffy was a naturally born leader despite what people might say about him. He loved the people he was in charge of and would 'stick by them through any trouble and pain' just to make them smile, and to admit that they too enjoyed living. He didn't like being alone. He was alive to have fun, to win, to fight, to survive, to build up friends, to make people smile, to sail all the seas, to become the Pirate King, and then just maybe he would be satisfied.

After leaving his old home-town Luffy had taken to sailing. It was one of the things that came naturally to him and he was actually good at. He couldn't swim, like the cursed pirate he was. He couldn't read very well either, and would often get some place-names wrong. In general he liked it far more when he was spoken to, or read to when the need arose. He never liked to actually read to himself when it came to the actual words on a white page, it reminded him of his grandfather, and how much he was always telling him he had to learn to be 'A Strong and Independent Marine', and how a Marine had to be smart and clever, and write detailed and brilliant reports. That had never sounded like fun to him as a kid. Luffy was more of a visual learner. He would watch his sniper, Usopp and copy the knots he tied until his were almost as good Usopp's sailor knots.

Now Luffy had always been the sort of man to appreciate art. Once the Strawhats had been shown all their Bounties by the Franky family, he had gathered them all up, after their escape from Waterseven, and stuck them to the dinning room wall of their new ship, the _Thousand Sunny. _Yes, Bounties definitely counted as art. They portrayed their journeys as a pirate crew and all their promises and achievements. However, he had to keep taking down Sniper King's poster, because Sniper King wasn't a part of his crew, but somehow it kept on miraculously appearing back on the wall alongside all of his crew. It was a mystery poster. And in the end Luffy left it up, because just maybe the hero from Sniper Island had somehow blessed the Strawhats with his ghost presence, and was now watching over them. For Sniper Island was place to be found in your heart.

And so, he left it up there to watch over them. There was also one that would somehow always look ruined and screwed up, and he would often find it ripped off the wall. That was Sanji's poster. He didn't know why. It was the coolest picture of them all. Like some cool-ass old pirate picture of old. He thought Sanji looked cooler and mean, and unlike everyone else's picture.

So, Admiring artwork was something Luffy liked doing. He liked to have pictures of things for him to look at, and not just boring writing. Yep, he would be the sort of person that would never dream to look for fanfiction to read, for extra and exciting stories, but he would be fine with the Manga, for a while at least. You see Luffy's attention span was slightly lacking in the focusing department. Unless it was about food of course, in which case he would be happy to give anything or anybody his undivided attention, but otherwise most words just bounced off him like a cannon ball would bounce off his rubbery body. It wasn't like he was doing it deliberately. It just happened.

He was a carefree, slightly dipsy, but a loving child, with not much going for him apart from his smile, his laugh, and his ability to make people believe in him and follow him into the fires of hell itself. And that, should be enough to show anyone who was undecided about how Luffy's pirate crew worked so well. It all boiled down to Trust. He trusted them. And in turn they too learned to trust one another and to rely on his bluntness and stability. He didn't change. Luffy never changed no matter what situation he was in or who he met. He didn't treat the wealthy man any different from the poorest man he might have met, and he always said what he thought. Luffy was an open book, and he never burned the pages of his story, but left it out on show for the whole world to see if they wished it.

Now, although you might not know this, but Luffy took the duty of Captain very seriously, and would secretly record in his own Captain's log book. Not with boring and crazy writing, NO! He drew pictures of the days events. Pictures of people or his crew doing weird things, Islands in lots of colour because he liked colour, and (because Nami didn't really draw in colour), and he would also draw what he had eaten that day. Yep, food was what drove the Captain to do some crazy stuff. It was his true love in life, apart from becoming the Perfectly Cool, new Pirate King. He would become the legendary Pirate King and use his money and gold to buy the best food from all over the world. He would sail the seas and eat everything he wants, visit everyplace he wants, and become friends with everyone he wants. That was his dream and he was living it. (I mean) is still living it.

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**(Back to the story)**

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When a log book was found in the guys room everyone was very much surprised. Not only because Luffy had actually hidden it, but also had been able to keep it a secret from the whole crew. The one to have had the pleasure of finding it had been none other than Nico Robin. For she knew if there would be any clues to indicate the starting point of the mystery that was Little Luffy, it would be found where he hid the food he stole from the kitchen. She didn't know the location of his secret stash room precisely but she had made a good estimated guess about its whereabouts and she was right. She had expected to find lots of crumbs and bits and pieces of scraps and leftovers that Luffy hadn't seen in his tucked away hiding space, but she had been pleasantly surprised by his book.

So, while everyone else was outside preparing to embark on an odious journey back to the shore she sat calmly in the men's sleeping quarters assessing the creativity of her Captain's handy work.

It really was quite priceless, with drawings of the crew and their enemies along with tiny scrawls of words like, Stupid Sange, MONSTER NAMIE, and Zoro be'n funny. It was needless to say that the pictures that accompanied these words were brilliant and amusing causing Robin to chuckle softly to herself. The fact that Luffy couldn't even spell his own crewmates' names right also made the pictures seem funnier. It was as if the pictures had been drawn by a child. But then again he still acted like one right?

She flicked the book over and restarted from the back of the book to look at the latest drawings. Because just maybe she would find the clue she needed. The Pages themselves were a bit grubby as if he had attempted to paint on them, dry the paint with sand, and then closed the book straight away. It was an interesting experience. Robin made a mental note to never try to get Luffy to read any real book. It wouldn't be able to survive his abuse for long.

His pictures of the unknown forest-like Island were busy and messy, and their were five in all. The first one was an angry drawing of Nami barking out orders to everyone, the second was of Sanji kicking a tree and catching the fruit that fell from it (he had drawn a stretched out Sanji with three heads so he could catch all the fruits, so weird). His third was of an unusual bug that he and Chopper had found, the fourth was just a lot of water flowing down from some rocks to somewhere else, and the final one was a mountain of food.

Robin giggled at the drawings. "Well, they are all very cheerful." she said to herself. The mix of imagination and reality was really interesting. In fact the more she looked at the pictures the more she believed that Luffy liked to try and make his drawings as obvious and relative as possible. But, out of all the pages she found herself inquisitive about about the second to last one most. "I wonder."

She kept her finger in the page and stepped outside, and found Zoro dragging around some unnecessary baggage called Luffy.

"Zoro! I want to see. Show me! Show me!" Luffy whined up at the giant green haired man. Luffy had his arms around Zoro's leg and was holding on tightly to prevent being kicked off.

"NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!" Zoro retaliated, "I told you! You can't play with my swords!"

"But you've got three. I just want to play with one." Luffy twisted his legs around the swordsman's right one and gripped even tighter then and tried to reach for Wado Ichimonji, but Zoro was not having it.

"No Luffy! Get lost!" He tried to pull Luffy off, but their legs were all knotted together, so when the swordsman threw him he sprung back with a boing and temporally knocked Zoro off his feet. Zoro managed to untangle himself and slowly stood up holding onto Luffy's (Nami's) GOLD t-shirt/ vest. He was giving off his scary glare (the one that would give nightmares to little children), but Luffy just returned his glare with a glazed and board look. Still not quite convinced that Zoro was all as scary as he made himself out to be. Zoro would change that.

"Listen Luffy, and listen well. I don't try and take your hat off you, do I?"

Luffy shook his head.

"And I don't tell you what to do with it, or how to wear it, or demand to have it, or try to squash it when I'm angry!"

Luffy's eyes went wild and his arms reached over his head to protect his treasure.

"Well, if I don't try and steal your treasure then don't try and take mine. I won't put up with it." he let go of Luffy and watched him drop to the floor. "Beware around me Luffy, if you try to steal something of mine again," he paused and laid his hand upon the hilt of his white sheathed blade "... your toes and fingers will go missing in the night, and sometime the next day you will eat them from Sanji's cooking at Lunch."

Luffy screamed and ran away from Zoro and made faces at him somewhere out of reach.

"You certainly have a way with children." Robin said smiling, as she came up to Zoro.

"I'm not going to spoil Luffy just because everyone else thinks he's cute and worth it all of a sudden. He might be a child, but he's still Luffy. He's a pain, and he needs to be treated the same." Zoro leaned back against railing. "So when are we going to leave, I thought you two girls would have been ready by now."

"I was just doing some extra surveillance. Do you know where Nami is at the moment?" Robin asked.

"Nowhere nearby thankfully." He yawned, "No idea."

Robin turned and made her way to the dinning hall. She saw the immaculate kitchen and thought of the missing chef. "I wonder if Sanji is okay?" She said to no one in particular. He had left about an hour ago and hadn't returned to find them or to discuss anything. He had gone out blind and crazy. It was really very strange.

Robin eventually found Nami talking to Usopp about what they needed to bring to the Island. And so after excusing herself for interrupting them she showed them Luffy's unusual Log Book. Nami read through a few of them and then did the same thing Robin had done only a few minutes before.

"Haha!" Usopp exclaimed. "Is that supposed to be you? That's so lame!" He was cut off from saying much more as he was sent flying into the far wall.

"This looks interesting." Nami said pointing at the fourth page. "I don't remember seeing that."

"Nami!" Luffy charged into the room and crashed into them, breaking up their conversation and pulling on Nami's trouser leg pocket. He was demanding attention, again. "Nami? Come on! Let's go to the Island now!"

"Not yet Luffy." She pulled his hand out of her pocket, dropped it, and looked back up at Robin. "So, you don't remember this on the Island right." She looked back down at the terrible drawing of the waterfall.

"Well, no. I don't, but it could just be a picture from his imagination."

Luffy pulled the book down to get a look at what they were talking about. "Oh! I remember that! That water was yummy! It tasted like fruit and meet." the oblivious kid smiled at the memory.

Wait, Memory.

"Luffy?" Nami asked "You can actually remember this?"

"Yeah! It was nice. I wanted to go swimming, but I couldn't so I stuck my head in and drank lots of water until my tummy was out here." He stretched out his stomach with his hands to try and indicate how large it actually was.

Franky was doing something crazy that caught Luffy's attention and he sped away unaware how important his words had been.

Robin frowned and turned back to the Navigator, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Water that tastes sweet to the drinker, and that makes people young again, being drunk by the gallon." Nami nodded. "What else could it be?"

"Let's tell the others." Robin and Nami went outside and called the rest of the crew together.

"It is time to go, does anyone have any other ideas as to where Luffy went and what caused the change to happen?" Nami said.

Usopp spoke up. "I think!" he said with a serious undertone as Chopper looked on at him with starry eyes. "That Luffy has been put under a spell." He whipped up a spell book from somewhere and spoke in a loud voice. "Winato! Begone!" he waved his hand over Luffy's head, "Evil Spirit! Begone!" Luffy started picking his nose in confusion. "Diabolical Demon! Begone!" Luffy started giggling. He found this guy really funny.

"Did it not work this time?" Chopper asked.

"It must be an unknown demon." Usopp said with his worried voice. "I can not cleanse things that I do not understand."

"Yeah right." Zoro yawned. "He isn't possessed."

"Are you sure?" Brook asked. "I see no reason for him to have changed, unless he was put under some sort of enchantment. And if I could see that then you should, because I have no eyes."

"This is a SUPER surprise! But we need to change Luffy back otherwise we will not be the same Pirate crew. The Strawhat Pirates can't be without their Strawhat Captain." Franky added.

"Well, I did check to see if he has eaten anything poisonous, but the results were normal." Chopper said.

"So what does that leave us to go on that he drank some magical water." Zoro scoffed.

Robin smiled, "Yes, that is possible, but what if this just so happens to be the legendary Island of the Fountain of Youth?" Everyone stopped what they were doing and thinking about and focused on Robin. She continued, "This Island fits all descriptions that I have ever read about it. Wouldn't it be incredible if we have really found it. Or I should say Luffy found it, but there is still the matter of where it would be located."

Everyone stared in a shocked and stupefied astonishment at these words, and Robin took up the book and showed them the terrible picture that had started her speculation.

"It would make sense if this was indeed the Island." Robin carried on, "Luffy has not just become youthful but impossibly younger. And we don't know how much Luffy even drank, so the result for someone else could be entirely different." Robin frowned, and looked over to her tiny, confused looking Captain. "But, if it really is the fountain of youth, I have no idea about how to change back such an amazing phenomena. The Fountain has always been legend it has never been proven only speculated."

"So, basically we still need to do the same thing?" Zoro spoke up. "Find it. Get Chopper to run some weird tests on it, make sure Luffy gets back to normal, and leave." he clicked and cracked his neck moving it from side to side preparing for a new adventure in the jungle-like Island, and looked up at the Strawhat organizer.

"So, Nami. You finished here or what?"

"Yes, we're finished here."

"Whatcha gonna name this Island?" Usopp asked.

"Well," Nami allowed a evil grin to spread across her pleasant face. "That still is undecided, but I do think the name of our crew might change, the 'Eternally Young Strawhat Pirates' has a good ring to it." She ran her finger around the log post on her wrist, and grinned at her friends. "I think it time to find out. Get asshore everyone! And make it snappy."

"Yeah!" Luffy jumped up into the air and starting running round in circles. He didn't really understand what had just been said, but they were about to go exploring and he couldn't contain his excitement. "Yeah! Yeah! YEAHHHHHH! Yeah! Yeah! YEAHHHHHHH!"

It wasn't long before Franky had picked him up and took him downstairs to the _Miny Merry. _And so the Strawhats' made their way to the Island. They weren't quite sure what they would find out there, but they would be sure to solve the mystery.

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**Thankyou Chapter 2 reviewers. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**Fi Suki Saki**

**Concerned Guest**

**Guest**

**Shannon Summer**

**ScatteredPhilosopher**

**Toreh**

**pipi96**

**Amy**

**Xxferssa- TanXx**


	4. Don't Get Lost

**Thank you everyone who has been enjoying the story so far. I do not own One Piece, but I love making up stories for it. **

**My favourite character in One Piece is Luffy; just in case you didn't know. And my second favourite character is Nami. Followed very closely by Tashigi. I know what a lot of you are thinking, (W.O.E) but I really like the character of Tashigi, and her history is still a total mystery. And she looks like Zoro's rival / friend. So Cool! I can't wait to actually find out more about her. And my fourth favourite is Zoro, because he is just so... hot? no... handsome, awesome, manly, cool, hopelessly lost and … wait I can do better...**

**Hopelessly Handsome**

**Ruggedly Rough**

**Casually Cool**

**Monstrously Manly**

**Absolutely Awesome**

**Stupidly Scoundrelous **

**Likely Losable **

**and so this is our … **

**Super Sleepy Swordsman **

**Who Sails the Seas**

**He can do as he please**

**And does it with ease**

**Slightly Stupid,**

**Scarily Strong,**

**He's often right**

**Hardly ever wrong. **

**He stacks up losers **

**By the pile**

**He's been fighting long**

**Yeah, for a while.**

**Yep, we all know**

**He gets lost within that mile, **

**But who cares 'cause Zoro uses **

**Three Sword Style**

**:D**

**by Abigail Skywalker**

**Okay, so maybe I'm not really sure which guy is my number one favourite, but they are both awesome in their own unique way. So I can't quite decide.**

**.**

**.**

Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Don't Get Lost

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Chapter 4:

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The Island wasn't large, and it wasn't to wild and filed with crazy people or animals, but it did have something that was very hindrance to their mission. It was incredibly over-grown and filled with thousands of good produce and things to eat. It has, in the One Piece World, been established that Luffy will eat almost anything and could catapult himself anywhere. And so, having been given the odious task of finding where this fountain of Youth could have possible been, wound be a mission in itself. It was one fit for the phrase 'Easier to find a needle in a haystack'.

They were currently in the swell of a large wooded area with a leafy floor. It smelt musty as if the sun hardly ever reached the earth below, but the woodland smell was rich and invigorating.

Luffy smiled, and took in a deep breath. This reminded him of the Forest near Dadan's house. He just couldn't wait to go exploring. He was running around the group with excitement. They had almost become used to his crazy childish energy by now and tried to ignore him most of the time because he was just to much.

Once the crew had gathered together Nami had divided everyone into groups. The First group were Brook, Franky, and Usopp, the second group was Robin, and Zoro, and the last group was Nami, Chopper, and Luffy.

"Why do you get to decide who goes into each team?" Zoro demanded. "I work better on my own."

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing. That might be true, but I want to put people into teams where at least one person can read a map, and know which way is North, South, East, and West." Nami retauted.

Usopp smirked at Zoro picturing him being lost of hours on this small Island, "I'm with Nami on this one. I'm fine with this set up." of course Usopp was fine. Brook could chop up anything in his way, and Franky might be able to dig into the island if he wanted. He had nothing to worry about.

"Imagine what would have happened if we weren't with Zoro at Punk Hazard." Brook added. "Yohohoho! He might have gotten lost in the gas."

"That would have been unfortunate." Robin said into the conversation. She was just putting her bag over her shoulders, making sure the fresh and very rough map that Nami made for her was secured in her bag. "I wonder what Zoro would look like as a petrified statue." she thought aloud.

"Shut up you morons! Are we going or not?" Zoro didn't like this idiotic discussion.

"Well," Usopp said. "he would look just the same as he did as a Baroque Works' Wax Statue on that Giangantic Island... what was it called?"

"It was Little Garden." Nami said, folding her arms. "and don't forget I was almost frozen as a statue as well. It was a terrible experience."

"Oh, so that's when you met MR. 3" Robin smiled, "I did wonder what you all did there." she sighed, "I wish I had been there to see. That sounds like you had fun."

"FUN! SHUT UP ROBIN!" Usopp sounded traumatized. "Have you ever watched your friends being frozen wax solid infront of you before? It's not funny!"

"Frozen Wax Solid! That sounds scary!" Chopper hid behind Robin's leg.

"Yes, it was for them, but luckily..." Usopp paused and cupped his chin with his right hand. "I was free and distracting the enemy. While Zoro, Nami, Luffy, and Princess Vivi where captured I alone fought off the enemy and pulled them all out of certain doom."

"No you didn't Usopp. Luffy did." Zoro gave away with a bored expression.

"Yeah, well I helped more than you did!" Usopp yelled. "You were just standing there like a candle on a cake!"

"And Usopp wasn't the idiot who tried to cut his feet off." Nami said.

"What you tried to cut them off? Is that when you got the scars on your feet?" Chopper yelled concerned, "Baka! They still don't look good."

"I can just see it now," Brook muttered to himself, "Red with White wax, like strawberry cake with cream..."

"No! It was nothing like that! It was disgusting!" Nami exclaimed.

"Well, I would still have liked to see Mr. 3's artwork. It's sounds beautiful." Robin said.

"It was a joke of a devil fruit power. Really stupid." Zoro said.

"... Strawberry cake with tea would be nice." Brook carried on.

"Well, as a matter of fact the creeps from Baroque Works were drinking tea." Usopp said.

"Where was Sanji?" Franky interupted. "Didn't he try and free you guys. I can't imagine him letting two girls get frozen stiff with Zoro."

"He was making friends with Crocodile over the Snail phone and pretending that he was Mr. 3." Nami explained.

"Wow, Sanji's so clever." Chopper said cheerfully.

"Well, look who's lost now. The Clever Cook is lost." Zoro smirked as he looked around for the idiot cook. "See, nowhere in sight." his smile soon left his face though when he realized that someone else was missing too.

"Hey guys? Where's Luffy?"

They all looked around.

"No way!" Nami fell down to the ground at her feet. "I have my back turned for just a few moments and he goes missing." she started hitting the earth. "It's not fair. What did I do to deserve this? Why is Luffy such an idiot? Why! Why!"

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They had all been talking for a long time now, and Luffy had since long decided that he was bored of this game. And what was worse is that no one had thought to tell him what they were even looking for. And what they were saying made no sense to him.

He knew something was out there and he could smell things that were interesting. These trees were bigger and weirder than the ones he, Ace, and Sabo, lived in.

"Food! I'm coming food!" He yelled and charged off to the biggest tree, and started climbing it.

About nine minutes later he had reached the top and had eaten a lot of fruit and weird mushroom stuff on the way.

"So good." he patted his full stomach and then found a spot in the tree to snuggle into. The sun was warm and shining down on him. There was a fresh breeze that kept whipping through the trees and he was high enough to be overlooking them all. He just felt so relaxed, so peaceful, as if the trees were singing a lullaby to him.

"Sleep now," he mumbled, "go exploring later." he rolled over and lay face down on the branch of the tree. He wrapped his arms and legs securely round the branch to stop himself from sliding and when he was finished, let out a sigh of contentment. And so, Luffy fell asleep to the rocking of the tree and the whispers on the winds.

But alas, no one knew where he was and no one knew what was really out there. Was what they were looking for really the fountain of youth or was it a clever and devious enemy?

As the sun started to set, and the shadows started to grow the tree Luffy was on had another eager visitor climbing the trunk. When he got to the top he noticed Luffy, shook his head, and then picked him up. "You shouldn't have run away from me, my Little King of the Pirates." he whispered to the sleeping child. "You promised me remember..." The stranger took the hat off the sleeping child, and put it on his own head. "we will always be together forever." Luffy stirred a little in his sleep, but then relaxed into the strangers arms.

"I'm going to be the King of the Pirates." Luffy muttered in his sleep.

"Of course we will. Of course we will." the stranger repeated.

He made his way down the tree and out of sight into the night. And Luffy made no sound. He was still fast asleep, and having pleasant dreams. The kind of dreams that you just don't remember.

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**Isn't this exciting! I think it is. What could happen next?!**

**By the way check out my other stories as well. :D**

**Don't forget to review... **


	5. Retracing Luffy's Steps

**Next Chapter here I come**

**Sorry for leaving you guys on a cliff hanger like that, but I do like interesting stories. We can't have it too predictable now can we?**

**Who could this stranger possibly be... ?**

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Retracing Luffy's Steps

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Chapter 5:

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The Crew of the Strawhat Pirates had split up into their respectable teams, and searched franticly for their careless Captain. Nami and Chopper were able to track him for a while, but the overwhelming earthy smells around Chopper soon confused his sense of smell and he lost Luffy's scent. In the other two man team, Zoro kept on insisting to Robin that Luffy liked travelling to the highest location or the strangest spot, and that they should head straight to the highest point of the island. Robin however was quite clear that they needed to find the Fountain of Youth's source and was searching in the caves near the shore because she believed it might be well hidden there, and she got Zoro to move boulders that were blocking her way.

Meanwhile, in the only three man team, they had set up a camp fire, cooked something amazing, and gone to sleep early. Their plan had been for Luffy to smell the food and then for them to not have to do any work at all. But unfortunately Luffy did not turn up as they planned so the next morning they had set off to hunt for Luffy. Franky had been able to fit together a bike like construction from what he had found lying around. And now they were travelling 'as fast as the wind' as Usopp liked to call it.

"Yohohoho! I just love the feeling of the wind whipping through my hair! It makes me feel young again." Brook announced to the others.

"Just wait til Luffy sees this!" Franky said grinning. "We'll find him first. 'Cause we have a SUPER ride!"

"Are you sure Franky?" Brook interjected, "I think our green haired Swordsman stands a good chance as well." Brook was waving his cane carelessly back and forth, Usopp thought that he might get it caught on a passing tree at any moment and disappear from their view.

"No, he has no chance against us." Franky leaned back into his bike and allowed the devil-like grin to spread across his face. "BECAUSE WE R THE SUPER TEAM!"

Usopp approved of this and nodded, "In the words of Zoro the sleepy and wise...!" Usopp started with his serious face and then proceeded to do one of his Zoro impersonations. "We'll find him, because that's what real men do.' zzzzz...zzzzzzz... zzzzzzzzz..." Usopp leaned back on Brook and pretended to be sleeping hugging three swords to his chest.

"That's just like him!" Franky laughed, looking behind him while riding his bike.

"Yohohohoho! That was so funny it made my eyes cry, even though..."

"Do Sanji next!" Franky interrupted.

"I will discover Luffy's mystery!" he got out his imaginary fag and puffed from it. "Because this is a test of my love!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Franky laughed at Usopp's impressions. "Best I've seen so far!"

"Yohohoho! Oh," Brook interrupted himself, "there's something in the way."

"Something in the way?" Franky looked back to the make shift road, but too late there was a BUM! .. BUM! Franky skidded to a stop, but not soon enough. Soon a strawhat flew up into the air and landed on Brook.

"Did we just run over Luffy?" Usopp said looking nervous.

"Nooooooo!" Brook jumped from the bike to run back.

"It doesn't really matter if we did right? He's just made of rubber. He'll just bounce back into shape. It's fine!" Franky said trying to sound relaxed. He sure was glad Nami wasn't here.

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Now, the reader might have by this point gotten extremely worried about a certain love-sick cook, or they like Zoro wouldn't care or bat an eyelid if he didn't appear in the story anymore 'til the very end. But unfortunately my dear reader he will, but not as you expected.

Unaware of the bright cheerful sunshine away above the trees, somewhere in the jungle a young lad woke up from a small nap he had taken by a river. He stood up and shook his head. _Wondering why he had slept by a river of all places._

"Where am I?" he looked down at what he was wearing, "I don't remember ever owning a suit like this?" He called out "Hey! You old Geezers! Zeff! Where are you guys?!" he started muttering to himself as he fished for a light and fag, "Those idiots had better not be playing a prank on me." he took another deep breath and yelled, "Oi Zeff! Where are you?"

Then out of nowhere he heard a cry. Not a angry, painful, or a heartbroken cry. It was the cry that someone gives off when they are lost and afraid. He hurried to the sound worried about whoever was lost out here, even though he had no idea of where he was himself. He hurried through the thick underbrush and smashed through netted vines, and soon found himself in an enclosed, earthy, and dirty knotted up area. And it was from here that he could see the source of the noise of the crying.

There was a tiny child that had been abandoned right in the middle of the forest. Sanji instantly kicked away some of the dead branches around the child. He couldn't just leave him out here.

"Hey there kid." Sanji said as he approached.

The child looked up at him as he came nearer. Sanji could see his tear stained face clearer now. "It's okay kid. I'll find your parents for you. You don't need to be afraid."

"Something's wrong with me?" the kid said sniffing.

"No there isn't. It will be alright. There is nothing to be afraid of."

"That's not right." he was shaking his head as Sanji pulled him upright. "I feel as if I should be afraid of something. But I don't remember. I don't remember." Sanji dusted off dirt from the grubby kid.

"Do you know what this place is called at least?"

"No, I don't remember. I feel stolen from."

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

"I need to know something, but I can't remember what I need to know."

"What's your name?"

"I don't know."

"What're your parents names?"

"I can't remember." The child put his head in his hands and wept. It was as if something had sapped all the love and joy out of this child's life and made him a hollow shell.

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Brook was the first to arrive at the scene and it was indeed Luffy that had been run over. He had been sleeping in the middle of the road. Luffy's squashed face sprung back upwards and as if in afterthought he stood up. He then caught sight of them and grinned. "Hi Brook!" He yelled as he embraced the skeleton. His grin got even wider when he caught sight of the others.

"I'm sure glad to see you guys again!" he laughed, "It feels so long, you all got lost didn't you!"

"Luffy? Are you sure you're alright?" said Franky, he was frowning.

"Yep, I'm fine!"

"But you were tiny, and now you're back to normal. How did you do that?" Usopp continued to look worried.

"What are you talking about Usopp? I haven't used Gear 3."

"I'm not talking about Gear 3 I'm talking about the time when you changed back into a child." Usopp added.

"Huh? I didn't do that?" Luffy looked very confused, and scratched his head. "I Don't know. It's a mystery."

"But..."

"I just went to sleep and woke up again, and I am like this. And I can't remember anything else." He chuckled to himself, "Usopp you must be going crazy."

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**I wonder who can figure out the mystery first. **


	6. The Spring of Life

**I see a lot of you are confused. That's good. That is what I was intending to make happen. Hehehehehehehe! (evil laugh), but do not fear the truth shall be revealed soon.**

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: The Spring of Life.

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Chapter 6:

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There was a great swordsman that was feared by many the world over, but somehow was still made to feel insignificant in certain areas when he was with the rest of the Strawhat Crew. Zoro was just left by Robin sitting by the entrance of the new cave he had opened up. His job he had been told by her was to prevent anyone suspicious from entering the cave.

"Stupid Luffy." Zoro muttered to himself. "You just had to go and get yourself lost." he rolled his eyes back into his head as he leaned back against the wall of the cave opening and closed his eyes he was so damn bored of all this searching. All he had to do to find Luffy was to go to the centre of the Island. The easiest way would be if he climbed up on of those cliff faces. He knew he shouldn't, and Nami would try to kill him if she knew he had tried, but he had been patient for like... an entire day with Robin and nothing had happened. He frowned. Yes, it was time to do things his way.

He knelt down at the base of the cave and wrote in the sand there. 'GONE DOWN TO THE RIGHT. ZORO.' he then stepped over his handy work and looked back at the cave. Yep, she would be able to see that easily.

He smiled to himself, "See Nami, even I can leave simple directions. All I need to do is keep to the right." And he turned right.

It wasn't long before Robin cam out of the cave and saw the message that had been left for her, but only a few steps away from the letters were Zoro's footprints facing the cave before he vied off to his right.

"Oh, dear." Robin smiled, "It's a good job there's a lot of sand here." she said to herself as she set off in search of her head strong team-mate.

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Zoro felt very proud of himself after climbing such a mountainous cliff face in such a short period of time. He was absolutely sure he was on the right track he just had a gut feeling that this was the right way.

_What would his Captain have done if he had come up here? Well he would have grabbed a piece of fruit from that nearby tree._

Zoro jumped up into the air and sliced off part of a branch from the nearby tree. And ate the fruit without hesitation. 'that's what his captain would have done.'

"Hum …tas...fse ... go..od." he spoke with his mouth full, to himself in pleasant surprise.

_Next his Captain would have either sprung into action and moved on or he have grabbed more food and sat down to eat it._

He looked around for a seat that His Captain might feel inclined to use. _There! Right there was perfect._ He made his way to a rock that was just jutting out of the ground like a sore thumb, and finished his piece of fruit why just sitting there.

_Where would Luffy had gone to next? He would have leapt into or onto the next thing that caught his interest._

He looked around, but that was when he began to hear the subtle changes in the sounds of water around him. There was the loud roaring sea that was rolling back and forth against the rocks of this island and then there was a gentle splashing noise coming from somewhere else.

He turned around and looked behind him. Just on the other side of the rock he was sitting on was a gaping hole that descended into the cliff.

"Luffy would definitely find this interesting." he dangled his legs over the edge and allowed himself to fall into the pit.

He landed with a thud and was surprised by the large amounts of glowing worm-like things on the sides of the cave. He shrugged it off as unimportant information and walked down the echoing passages

He came into a ginormous chamber that seemed to happy to offer the perfect echo to his boots as they hit the floor. "Oi Luffy are you here?" Zoro called out to him. No answer.

Then he smelt something familiar. What? Had someone got a secret stash of booze here or something? He began walking around the lake of water in search of the source of this familiar smell. He could do with a little break, he had been working solidly 'til now, and it had been a little while since the Strawhats had got him any new sake. He had circled half of the perimeter of the so called lake, but had seen no sign of the booze or Luffy.

"Damn it. Where is this smell coming from?" he muttered to himself. He then found himself turning back to the lake. It could be there? Could it? There was no such thing as a lake of alcohol. But his misgivings weren't enough to prevent him from testing out his theory.

He knelt down at the edge of the lake, cupped his hands and pulled out the water and drank it. Delight flooded out his suspicion as the taste was just too amazing to be imagination. It was really an entire lake of sweet alcohol.

"This should be called the fountain of booze." he cheered up as he drank another mouth-full.

It soon wasn't enough to drink with his hands alone and he dipped his entire face in. It had felt and tasted so sweet to him, he had never been offered a chance like this before, he had never seen a miny sea of alcohol he could swim in and for some reason he felt like he really wanted to.

He took off his clothes and dived into it's depths. He would be really sticky afterwards, but he didn't care at least he would have the memory of being able to do this this one time. He ducked his head under starting to feel a little giddy at the amazing effect it was having on him. He swam and drink and swam and drank. This was going to be the closest feeling he would get to being kissed by the sea as some men call it when they love it more than home. He kept the shore in sight and made his way back to it before he became a little to intoxicated. As he came up to the side and climbed up onto dry land he suddenly felt very drowsy and tired. He pulled his pants back on before he lay down on the edge of the heavenly lake and allowed himself to drift off into a drug induced sleep. _He felt calm, and at peace, and so..._

His mind blanked out as he fell into a deep sleep. Which wasn't very hard, because as you all know Zoro has sleeping down to an art. No one can beat him at a sleeping contest. He wins hands down.

However as he was sleeping the water that had just been drunk by him started seeping out from the pours of his skin dribbling away back into the lake of sake. Before long a mysterious man had appeared before Zoro standing straight and tall.

"I shall try to the best of my ability to achive your goals." he said to him. "May you rest in peace here until the time comes for you to rise again." And with that he picked up Zoro's weapons and left through the entrance that Zoro had just hours before come in through.

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**Don't panic. Just wait for the unavoidable. **


End file.
